Chapter 196.2: Spoils of War (Part 2)
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Mira assumed that Machina Guardian was only holding out because of the large number of appendages it had available. If all the cannons fired at the same time, then that advantage would be overcome and it would not be able to deflect everything.
「Yes, firing everything does deal damage.」
Starting with that, Soul Howl detailed how the fight had gone so far.
He had already tried to fire everything at the same time twice. Since Soul Howl had already used a turret the night before, Machina Guardian had learned how to deal with it, and applied it to the wall as well.
But he also noticed that there was a limit to how much it could defend against, so he had tried firing everything at once.
「It did cause some damage, and it probably left quite some cracks on it. The problem is what happened after.」
Soul Howl continued relating what had happened, all the while making sure that his cannons were still firing. Firing all the cannons at once also meant that they would need to reload at the same time, which created an opening that Machina Guardian did not miss.
「I tried it again just in case, and it was just a repeat of the first.」
Then Soul Howl gestured at a portion of the wall.
There were some deep cuts into the sturdy wall there. If that kind of damage was applied for a second or third time, the wall would likely crumble.
「It responded by going berserk both times. It's only happened twice, so it's hard to say conclusively, but I think it's safe to assume it'll always do that.」
The wall was key for their strategy to succeed. If it was destroyed, everything would fall apart. It was best to avoid firing all the cannons simultaneously if it meant Machina Guardian would go berserk.
「But well, that's about it. On one hand my cannons don't work anymore, but I also managed to deal some damage. So what do you think?」
Soul Howl had given a rather lengthy response to Mira's question on how things were going. It did not seem like things were going exactly smoothly, but Soul Howl still seemed confident.
「Hmm, I guess it is halfway alright. And this is quite the mighty wall you have, if two berserk attacks left only that.」
Mira looked at the marks left on the wall and seemed rather impressed.
Going berserk was the name given to one of Machina Guardian's attacks, known for being its most dangerous one right after the Laser Beam, which not even the best paladins in full armor and shield could block.
It was impressive for Soul Howl's wall to resist that attack twice and remain standing up.
「I heard of golems with various additional effects, but I guess nothing can compare to your Castle Golem.」
Castle Golem was the actual name of the spell that gave Soul Howl his nickname of Great Wall. It was a spell that combined various aspects from other spells, making it one of the highest level Necromancy spells.
As its name suggested, it created an enormous golem that was nearly the size of a royal castle. It was also equipped with a hundred cannons, and various other weapons set up as defenses.
At first he employed other people to man all those cannons and weapons, but now he could create helper golems which allowed him to use it on his own. Because of that, Arkite's capital ended up obtaining a second stronghold defending the main palace, so when other players attempted to siege the city, they realized they had to topple two fortresses, which usually drove them to just laugh at how ridiculous that was and give up.
The wall dividing the arena in two was a portion of Castle Golem. That was another benefit of that spell, it was not necessary to create the entire thing, it was possible to create only one portion to adapt into enclosed spaces.
Mira watched how the damaged portion of the wall slowly regenerated as she was reminded of Hebi, one of the Fifty Bells' elite. She had mentioned a newly created tool called Mystic Dagger that could extract special souls from undead monsters, and apply their properties onto a golem, enhancing them with various effects.
「I believe you added a special Reinforcement effect to your Castle Golem this time, right? That has made your Castle Golem into an even harder to penetrate defense.」
「It's not really that this is a special situation. There's just no point in adding an effect like Swiftness or Leaping to this.」
Soul Howl had already experimented various things before his high level spells were sealed. Then he added 「I actually was afraid Reinforcement wouldn't have any effect either,」 smiling nervously.
When he was running his tests, he did not have any enemies nearby that could check whether Reinforcement actually had an effect or not. Now he was testing it against a raid boss, so at first he doubted it would help much, but the effect was stronger than he anticipated. Now he felt confident in letting the Castle Golem defend their position autonomously.
That gave both Mira and Soul Howl a big advantage. Now they had a wall that would stop any attack, giving them the perfect hiding place to use Meditation.
「Then just like always, I'll be relying on your Castle Golem to keep me safe.」
Castle Golem was Soul Howl's strongest defense. He had used it plenty of times when fighting large hordes of enemies, or when securing a location and stopping intruders.
「And I'll be counting on you for the offensive.」
Soul Howl was in a good mood, likely because he was glad his high level spells had been unlocked. Then he reclined back as he watched the cannons continue firing. He was a necromancer that specialized in building defensive weapons next to an automated fortress.
Then he went to bring more cannons to the golems firing, muttering something about mixing up the timing.
Mira chuckled a little seeing Soul Howl like that, then jumped off from the turret and into the area enclosed by the wall.